208 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



from the water, and carried almost lifeless to 

 the ship ! 



In another authentic instance, when a boat 

 was chasing a whale, he suddenly turned to 

 windward, and made directly for his pursuers, 

 who were so excited hy the chase as to be blind 

 to danger. On, therefore, they madly rushed, 

 without trying to avoid the infuriated monster, 

 so eager were they to plunge into him their 

 irons, till the boat struck with such force upon 

 the whale's head, as to throw the oarsmen from 

 their thwarts. At the same moment the boat- 

 steerer let fly his two harpoons into the animal, 

 which then rolled over on its back, and, before 

 the boat could get clear of the danger, being to 

 windward, a heavy sea struck it, and threw boat 

 and men into the whale's mouth ! All, of course, 

 sprang for their lives, and they had barely time 

 to throw themselves clear of the boat, before it 

 was crushed to pieces by those ponderous jaws, 

 and its ejected crew were providentially all 

 picked up by another boat. 



But other cases, some with like happy es- 

 capes, and some with fatal results may be here 



